Taro T

You know this kid will be there.

There IS a difference (to a degree). But DURING the season (which is when Adams 1st spoke) if you are the GM are you going to go on record publicly as saying the guys that are actually at the level you're looking to upgrade aren't good enough? Personally, can't see a GM do that, especially 3 days after the opportunity to try to bring that guy in has passed. And, am not 'arguing." Am "discussing." Simply not agreeing in lockstep does not mean an argument has entailed. My 2 cents.

Agree with all that, PLUS if a guy is from S. Ont. Buffalo is about as close to home as they're going to get presuming they don't end up in what @Sabres Fan in NS likes to call the Great Satan. For guys that want to be in/near Canada (particularly the Ont. version of said), well Canada is just over the river. For some, that's a draw. For others, not so much. But the biggest factor on whether a guy (that has legit NHL talent, rather than a tweener) will want to come to a team is does he think it'll be in the mix during the bulk of the time he's on that contract and will he fit in with the room. If the answer to both is 'yes,' well, you've got a shot to sign him. And hopefully bringing in Ruff will cause players to believe that 1st answer is 'yes.' Remains to be seen if it will help, but it has to be better than having replaced Granato with another 1st time HC.

Couldn't read the article, might ask the 'rents to save it. But, it'll be real interesting to see what the STH base ends up at. Everybody in our row came back, but when they were letting STHers choose different seats that their current ones there were a lot more than 8,000 seats available. People in the rows behind us were really not sure they were going to renew &/or had already decided not to renew. There also were a LOT of 1st time STHers that bought into the hope of the previous season's finish which is how the base got to be ~10k. A lot of that hope was dashed by the way last season went. Maybe Ruff coming in restored the hope. But they're going to need a LOT of new people signing up to hit 11-11.5k IMHO. Guess that's why they're opening up the next BG&I to people that aren't STHers. (Even though that's supposed to be an exclusive perk of being a STHer.) Hoping that hearing Lindy's enthusiasm (and Kevyn's for that matter) will seal the deal on getting people to put down their deposit. Hope they do hit that goal and exceed it before the season is out, because games are a LOT more fun when the barn is packed. But this past season did them no favors in that regard.

He was saying back in mid-March that he wants an experienced top 9 W (personally took that as another shout out to Kane that he'll always be welcome) so that IMHO is actually looking for a 2nd line W. He also said that he wants an experienced 4C that is excellent on the PK and on faceoffs. As am in no way convinced that Krebs will be effective in a 3C role (nor that Savoie or Kulich can win that job out of the gate; really hope they can't and it could be that hope factoring in too much) but they (he and Granato at the time) had to talk up the possibility of Krebs being the 3C & being given the opportunity to be the 3C that though he said he wants a 4C, he really is in the market for a legit 3C (and if a legit 3C with 2 way game gets forced to 4C, all the better). So, again, personally don't see a shift in what Adams has been publicly calling for because he's been calling for those 2 roles since the trade deadline passed. He also said he was looking for a top 4 D for 2 years which is why he pulled the trigger on the Mittelstadt trade and he's also talked about the 4th line having an identity since about that time. But have always seen the reenvisioning of the 4th line to be in addition to those other 2 moves, not instead of them.

And the rink in Sunrise is effectively LITERALLY right on the edge of a swamp. There's a road that goes past it on the north side and then pretty much nothing. Head east or head south and there is massive development. (There is a HUGE mall on the other side of the 4 lane road the rink sits on.) Head north and bring waders and some sort of device to keep the gators at bay.

Is there? When asked directly 3 days after the trade deadline if he would trade prospects and or picks for guys that can play in the top 9, he literally said "absolutely, yes." Where/what is the change in what was said from then to now?

If either of them don't hit that it will be a major disappointment this coming season.

It actually would make more sense were the Dakota's to be divided into East & West Dakota rather than North & South. (In both states, ranching is bigger in the east and mining bigger in the west.)

Apparently with the bar lowered enough to get Housley in, Pete managed to eventually Sneak in himself. (Honestly had no idea that he'd been elected this past season; or at minimum completely put it out of mind.)

Dakota Fanning disagrees with this take. 🤪

Lofton started all 16 games the previous year and didn't even average 2 catches per game that year. He played his way out of the lineup before he was actually out of the lineup as a Raider. Yeah, people thought he was over the hill and past his prime. Agree with the rest of it.

And people looked at the Bills askance when they brought in "over the hill" "way past his prime" "nothing at all left in the tank" James Lofton. Sometimes guys just need an opportunity in a new surroundings. (And sometimes, it still goes kerplewy. But he's definitely worth taking a shot on.)

Yup. Sunrise for all intents and purposes is a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale. It's far closer to that than it is to Miami.

If the league is putting pressure on the Sabres to actually appear to care, any thoughts on whether they actually start getting some calls to go their way?

It's really Auhsoj?

We need a 'hmmm' reaction button here. 😉

And yet, according to the ads, the miracle deodorant apparently can't do anything about foot odor. At least if the user isn't a contortionist, it's outside the scope of their product's intended use. Or maybe it IS specifically designed FOR contortionists. Which beggars the question, why the full on mass marketing of the products when it really is a fairly niche customer base?

Quinn does line up most often on his strong side, but it always seemed he was at his most effective when he'd slide over to his off-hand side (especially when playing with Peterka, the chemistry of those 2 seemed to skyrocket when they'd swap spots during play) so wouldn't be overly concerned about which side he played on especially if he's playing on a line with Kane. Would expect Benson playing with Skinner would result in a fair amount of him freelancing to his strong side as well as Skinner tends to head towards the right post when he does go low in the zone. Besides, both are smart enough players that they should be able to handle the point inside their own zone on the wrong boards. Skinner definitely can't do that; and not sure how Peterka would handle it.

Cool. Couldn't recall if you'd decided to give Celebrini the McDavid treatment or said you WEREN'T going to go that route. 😉

So, any word on whether @thewookie1 sideswiped any of the prospects yet? Still 1 more day for him to pull it off, but if he hasn't done so yet, it isn't very promising.

Until Patrick Kane is re-signed in Detroit or ends up elsewhere, am expecting he is still high on Adams radar. Would expect the top 3 lines to look something like: Peterka - Thompson - Tuch Quinn - Cozens - Kane Skinner - New Guy - Benson Those 2 top lines would both be good to very good and would allow that 3rd line to absolutely feast much like the RAV line feasted back when Briere and Drury were here. (Honestly, that 1B line might be better than the 1A line.) Make that 4th line something truly difficult to play against, and it already wouldn't be a picnic with Greenway there and that is a forward lineup that can the them into the playoffs. And 100% would have Skinner (should he be back, and expect he will be) on that 3rd line on day 1. And if he wants to get back onto the top line, let him show he can play within whatever system Ruff determines will work best with this bunch and earn his way back.

And, of course, with the birth of the artist came the inevitable afterbirth ...

Well, if they don't end up bringing in say a Patrick Kane to play in the "top 9," then, yeah, Greenway likely stays in the "top 9." But this team would be a lot better if they can roll a 4th line through.

Yeah, in an ideal world, where there is a new 2W and a new 3C brought it, Greenway deploys at the beginning of the game as a 4W. But see him getting more ice time than the typical 4th liner as he can slide up onto any of the other lines as situations dictate. Also, see him (and the bottom 6C they bring is) as the primary PKer. At the age of 19, Benson could see his ice time diminish in critical situations as could Peterka and Skinner. But, also remember, when he can do so, Ruff likes rolling 4 lines. It's a heck of a lot easier to do that when Greenway is the driver of the 4th line than when last year's Krebs is that driver. And also expect that whomever they bring in for that open C role (whether it be 3 or 4), that Krebs will be given every opportunity to take that 3C role away from the new guy and that the new guy could be a big chunk of that "identity line." Lastly, depending on who that C is and the other 4th line W is, the "4th line" might very well be the 3rd line in terms of ice time and deployment while Krebs-Skinner-Benson/new W end up with the title of 3rd line but actually getting 4th line usage and minutes. Don't get too caught up in who's on the "4th line." Personally, find it more interesting to see who he's deployed with.